After Thanksgiving thoughts

While this will likely always be remembered as the year Lucas open a new bottle of Ranch Dressing only to have it "explode" all over his face, clothes, the table AND the living room curtains, the year the always dependable rolls failed miserably, the year we left the green beans in the microwave and Zoe, the golden retriever, stole a piece of turkey off the platter, it was without a doubt a great day.  I was, and am, tired, the cooking isn't so bad the clean up is pretty rough when all I want to do is sit around, chat and drink wine!  That's the downside to using my Mother's bone china-can't put it through the dishwasher.  I know that going in but I still use it!  To have the family gathered in love (And relative peace) is a gift.  Then they all left taking their children and dogs with them and that was a gift as well. "VBS"  I wandered through my house shutting off lights and locking up last night thinking that the finished space in the bedroom improved the day by spreading us out and that made all the work worth it!  Then I walked into my room and found one of my measuring cups lying on the floor by my bed and had to smile!  Brax gets around!

It's finished! Mostly.

I'm sure you all thought I'd fallen off the edge of the world!  Really, I only fell into the basement.  Once Rob and Tanya moved into their own place their old space looked like this:

 Half carpet half mastic coated cement floor!  Ugly color on the walls!

 Under stair area closed off!  No place to hide in a big storm!

Now it looks like this:

 New floor tile, all 436 tiles laid by me.  New paint on ceiling and walls.  Trim along floor added (also new door to laundry room-old one had a cat door in it I no longer need.)  A big toy for the big boys!  My Dad's pool table.  Boy was that fun to put up, NOT.

 TV viewing area!  I nearly have a chase lounge there on the end.

 New place for the children's books, puzzles and toys! A place for game playing. (Now I can have a guest bedroom upstairs!)

Under stair opened up, for a hide-away in case of a tornado, or for the boys to play in!
There are a few things left to be finished up but it's waiting until after the holidays, I'm beat.

Tomorrow, it's time to prep for Turkey Day!  I do hope to get some time in the sewing room/office, although it will mostly be clean up.  That needs to be done so badly!  I plan to sew all day on Friday with one dvd movie after another on my little tv.  I'll take time out to walk with Quinn and eat but that's about all.  I need a break!

A tale of three acorns.

Every year I complain about acorns!  So here's why---

Most acorns lose their cap when they fall off the tree, either they leave it on the tree to fall later or it comes off when the acorn hits the ground. (Sort of like a child's cap does in the winter!)  Any way you look at it you have two pieces of acorn on the ground.  It isn't a problem in small numbers but after a while you begin to slip on them as they roll under your feet!  Mowing, or raking,  the leaves is necessary every week and this past week I started slipping on acorns so I had to rake them up -couple of 5 gallon buckets I expect just in the front.  The ones that land in the gardens have a tendency to sprout come spring and then I get to dig up little oak trees, it's easier to deal with them now!

There are three kinds of acorns around here:

On the far left are a couple of Burr oak acorns, I pick these up in the park on our walks, these are somewhat small due, I think, to the hot dry summer.  The middle ones are Red oak acorns from my front yard,  I finished cleaning them up on Saturday, there are more today.  The ones on the right are from the Pin oaks in the back yard-I have three.  I looked and looked for some with the caps on but no luck! These guys don't rake and are so small you just can't pick them up!  They can cause you to slide down the terrace, an exciting ride to be sure!  Squirrels love all three as do the deer-glad some one does.  I've heard you can make flour from acorns, perhaps I'll give that a try someday-NOT!

I've been busy but I have nothing to show yet--by this time next week I hope to have the basement room finished!  There will be photos!